Joss Whedons new TV show + Children of Men TV show

wezza2Sun 30/03/08 12:33

Some pretty cool news about new TV shows from the States. Especially if you are of the opinion the Joss Whedon is a genius at creating TV shows.

Concept

So what is the concept, exactly? Explains Whedon: "Dollhouse is a suspense drama about a girl who can have any personality except her own." So it's part Alias and part Quantum Leap, "because Echo is literally changing who she is," he continues. "She gets into people's lives a little bit." Even Eliza Dushku's. "I relate so much to this character," she marvels. "Echo is essentially the story of my life. I've lived a crazy life the past 16 years, traveling around the world and then tripping and falling into this business. Everyone wants you to transform and be a different person every week."

Characters

Beyond Dushku's character, the show will also revolve around the people who run the mysterious "dollhouse" and two other "dolls," a man and woman who are friendly with Echo. Then there's the federal agent who has heard an urban myth about the dolls, and is trying to investigate their existence.

Background

Great chemistry and intriguing premise notwithstanding, you'd think that after Fox snuffed Whedon's Firefly and hung up on Dushku's Tru Calling, one or both of them would have been more than a little hesitant to get back into bed with the network. "Honestly? Walking back into that building was pretty damn strange," Whedon admits. But "I always had a good relationship with [Twentieth Century Fox], and on the network end, it's a completely new bunch of people, and from what I've seen, a fairly impressive bunch." Dushku seconds that emotion. "I really get the sense that they're committed to [this show]… It feels right." Besides, as Whedon notes, "I told them I was interested in writing a pilot, and they gave me seven episodes. They've already shown more support for it than I have." Now it's your turn to show the comeback kids some love. And, like Dushku, I don't think you'll let them down. "We have the best fans in the business [in the] the Buffy and Whedon universe," she says. "It's going to be pandemonium when this [news] hits." And it's only just begun

Also in exciting TV news. Battlestar Galactica co-creator David Eick has a new TV show planned too.

Bionic Woman executive producer David Eick told SCI FI Wire that he's working on a pilot script for a proposed TV series based on Children of Men, P.D. James' SF novel, which also inspired Alfonso Cuaron's 2006 film of the same name.

"It's really taking root more in the origins of the novels in that it will focus on the cultural movement in which young people become the society's utter focus," Eick (Battlestar Galactica) said in an interview at SCI FI Channel's upfront presentation to advertisers in New York on March 18. "Much like our culture, whenever Lindsay Lohan does something [and] it becomes the headline of every news show, it's about how, when you don't have a responsibility to the next generation and you're free to do whatever you want, where do you draw the line?"

Eick added that Children of Men will question how society defines responsibility, freedom and a sense of values when it doesn't necessarily believe humans will survive as a species. "So it's a very compelling, I think, human question that science fiction has always explored extremely provocatively," he said. "It's not really a war show like the movie was. It's more an exploration of that issue."

Eick is writing Children of Men now, even as he closes out SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica and prepares for production on SCI FI's recently green-lighted prequel series Caprica. Eick's Bionic, meanwhile, has been canceled by NBC.